Today's Paper
» NATIONAL
» KARNATAKA

Nursing home to hold contest for babies on Sunday

As part of the 34th anniversary celebrations of Vithal Clinic and Nursing Home, a ‘My baby is cutest’ contest will be held on the Karnatak Vidyavardhak Sangh premises here on Sunday.

Paediatrician Rajan Deshpande told presspersons here on Wednesday that the contest would be held from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. The objective of the contest was to assess the efforts put in by parents in raising their children.

Those interested in participating have to bring the immunisation card of their child. The competition would be held for children aged between 0–1 years, 1–2 years, 2–3 years and 3–4. A special category for children from rural areas would also be held, he said.

Winners of the competition will get a certificate and trophy. Vice-Chancellor of the Karnataka State Women’s University Meena Chandavarkar and senior paediatrician J.K. Lakhani will distribute prizes to the winners.

Paediatricians and family physicians of Dharwad, Hubli and Gadag would participate as judges. For the first time, the clinic has instituted a special award titled ‘Ideal mother and baby’.

This is in recognition to the efforts made by the mother to nurture the child in the most ideal way, Dr. Deshpande said.

Children’s Academy

Trustee of the Children’s Academy Kavan Deshpande said the academy would be celebrating its 12th anniversary at the same venue on Sunday.

The academy will give a State-level Best Orator Award to a student who has topped various competitions across the State.

This year, the award would be conferred on Prasanna Hebbar, a class 9 student from Bhatkal New English School.

The academy has been holding seminars and workshops on new age parenting, malnutrition, healthy eating habits and so on, he added.

Malnutrition

Rajan Deshpande, physician, said government schemes to combat malnutrition among children was not reaching the target group because of lack of awareness among parents. The Children’s Academy, in association with the district administration, would launch a special health programme from January, 2013.

Under this programme, every month, 50 malnourished children would be adopted by paediatricians. They would watch the food habits of the child and educate the parents. Once in 15 days, a health check-up camp would be conducted. Besides, the academy would also donate drinking water to government schools and slums. The objective was to make Dharwad a malnutrition-free district, Dr. Deshpande added.